TidBITS#50/25-Mar-91
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Topics:
MailBITS/25-Mar-91
Microsoft Calls Lotus's Bet
DeskWriter Problems
Microsoft Treading Antitrust Waters?
Multiple Master
Reviews/25-Mar-91
MailBITS/25-Mar-91
------------------
Apparently Sitka isn't quite as odd a name as I previously
thought. I recently learned that there is a Sitka spruce and a
Sitka black-tailed deer. I've also heard more information from a
couple of readers.
Scott Robert Anderson writes, "My understanding is that it was a
"meeting place" for many different groups (Americans, Russians,
Eskimos, etc.). Since the company is in the business of
connectivity between many different platforms, this seemed like an
appropriate name."
And John Richard Bruni adds, "Sitka is now a real nice little
city. I went there to do a story on James Michener when he was
writing _ALASKA_ and was amazed at how nice a place Sitka is. It
is much like Vancouver in weather, being part of Southeast Alaska
rather than the Far North."
Information from:
Scott Robert Anderson -- phssra@unix.cc.emory.edu
John Richard Bruni -- John_Richard_Bruni@cup.portal.com
Microsoft Calls Lotus's Bet
---------------------------
A few weeks ago Lotus purchased cc:Mail to beef up its networking
suite against Microsoft. I had mistakenly thought that Microsoft
Mail ran on PCs and Macs (well it does, but only supports PC
clients, much like CE's QuickMail), but it turns out that
Microsoft Mail is not quite the complete solution. So although
Lotus's move to buy cc:Mail wasn't quite as desperate as it seemed
at the time, Microsoft has countered almost immediately. Despite a
proposed close date of April 1st (April Fools Day in some parts of
the world), it looks as though Microsoft will spend some $20
million for Consumers Software, makers of a PC mail package called
Network Courier E-mail.
The positive aspect of this spending frenzy is that it will help
legitimize email, at least at the LAN level (if not the individual
level, which I'm more interested in). With both Lotus and
Microsoft building email links into their products, the concept of
email will become far more common. Microsoft has said that it will
rename Network Courier E-mail to Microsoft Mail for the PC, or
something that fits with Microsoft's relatively unimaginative
(read: "business-oriented") naming scheme. Microsoft no doubt
plans to integrate email into its PC programs, most likely in the
same manner as it has with its Macintosh programs. This high level
of integration will cause Lotus grief, since few of Lotus's
products are particularly integrated with each other, either in
operation or name.
The negative aspect of these purchases is that with Microsoft and
Lotus controlling so much of the email market it will be harder
for smaller companies to survive. The best hope for us innovation-
oriented sorts is CE Software, which combines small size, the
ability to move relatively quickly, good customer support, and a
large installed base. CE has done interesting things in the past,
and I suspect more will come from them in the future. QuickMail is
also flexible enough, what with its numerous gateways, that
current users are extremely unlikely to switch to one of the other
packages. Let's hope that the users are the eventual winners of
these email wars - after all you and I are all little bits of
market share so we should get some say in this.
Related articles:
MacWEEK -- 12-Mar-91, Vol. 5, #10, pg. 82
COMMUNICATIONS WEEK -- 11-Mar-91, pg. 6
InfoWorld -- 11-Mar-91, Vol. 13, #10, pg. 8
PC WEEK -- 11-Mar-91, Vol. 8, #10, pg. 5
PC WEEK -- 04-Mar-91, Vol. 8, #9, pg. 1
DeskWriter Problems
-------------------
by Andrew Lewis -- LEWIS@ITHACA.BITNET
The Hewlett-Packard DeskWriter is a wonderful printer, combining
300 dpi print quality with street prices under $800. We even have
a waterproof ink for it at long last! But a few other problems
have recently cropped up. Unfortunately, even though the problems
are relatively rare, HP has done a poor job of making the
information available to dealers, who are the primary support for
DeskWriter owners. In any case, here are the two DeskWriter
problems and solutions that I know of.
People who use the Mac Plus under MultiFinder may experience
strange crashes when trying to print to the DeskWriter. HP was
aware of the problem as early as August. The problem was
identified by HP and Apple as an "interaction" between the Mac
Plus ROMs (HP claims this bug may also affect some SEs "which had
the same ROMs," although I don't think that any SEs used the 128K
Plus ROMs) and the older printer drivers supplied by HP with the
DeskWriter.
Version 2.1 of the driver software (one for serial use, one for
AppleTalk) corrects this problem. Oddly enough, HP does not
guarantee that these new drivers are a complete fix. The people I
talked to at HP's technical support said they "didn't have a Plus
in the office" on which to test the fix. The update also fixes
some other minor problems, including an incompatibility with Super
Laser Spool from SuperMac. Getting the new version can be a bit of
a pain - it's available in HP's CompuServe forum or theoretically
from dealers, though neither of the two HP dealers here in Ithaca
had the drivers before I did.
The other problem, quite rare and fairly unpleasant, concerns
owners of the newer AppleTalk-capable DeskWriters. This bug pops
up when the DeskWriter is used as a serial printer (as opposed to
as an AppleTalk printer). After an indeterminate period of time,
the printer refuses to work properly - the lights on the printer
may flash, and the Mac may display an "Error Trap 10864" error
code. The nasty result is that the printer won't print. Switching
to the other serial port might help temporarily, but can result in
another failure. The DeskWriter's hardware normally senses how it
is connected to your Mac and switches itself into either AppleTalk
or serial mode, as appropriate. Somehow this failure is begun by a
change in the resistance of the Mac's RS-422 serial circuitry,
which causes the DeskWriter to switch to AppleTalk, even though it
is still receiving serial data which it cannot process properly
while under AppleTalk mode.
According to HP, the problem appears with the Macintosh SE, II,
SE/30, IIcx, IIci, and IIfx. Apple and HP agree that it is an
Apple design flaw. This condition does not seem to prevent other
serial devices from functioning properly, luckily. The fact that
this condition of the Mac's serial port affects only the
DeskWriter probably accounts for much of the lack of knowledge
about the problem on the part of Apple dealers. It appears that HP
designed the DeskWriter to conform to the standards of the
component circuitry used by Apple in the Mac's serial port without
taking into account any quirks of implementation on Apple's part.
HP's approach to the problem of configuring the printer
automatically is to my knowledge unique, and unfortunately
generates a unique problem. HP is clear about the fix - avoid the
whole problem by using your DeskWriter in AppleTalk mode. This
requires only LocalTalk or PhoneNET cabling, which can be had for
around $60. You don't need to be on an existing network or have a
fileserver or anything of that nature. If you use LocalTalk
cabling, the HP AppleTalk driver, and keep AppleTalk turned on,
everything (including other serial devices) should work fine.
Assuming that not everyone would like that answer, considering
that it increases the printer's cost by about 10%, I checked
around about what to do. My local dealer (for both Apple and HP)
was unaware of the problem. I called Apple's 800 technical support
number and received no information. They told me that they dealt
with such matters on a "case by case basis," which meant that they
would not tell me anything regarding warranty coverage and such
unless my Mac actually developed the problem and I brought it to
an Apple dealer. They also were unable to confirm or deny that
Apple would release a statement on the problem as HP claimed they
would. [Editor's note: I later found Apple's and HP's statements
on AppleLink; they both pretty much said the same thing.] However,
HP's technical support people provided some information. They told
me that HP and Apple had investigated and isolated the cause of
the problem. According to HP, Apple dealers should know about the
problem since it is in their "Apple Service Manual," and they will
fix your Mac if the serial port fails. I couldn't get a firm
answer, but it seems that AppleCare or your warranty will cover
the repair costs. [Editor's note: Apple's statement on AppleLink
confirms this answer, and added that if the Macintosh is not
covered that the dealer should discuss the problem with "Technical
Operations." I didn't pursue the matter further.]
So what does it all mean? HP has solved both problems but did a
lousy job of telling anyone. Even if these problems are relatively
uncommon, people who experience them, particularly the second one,
could go through a time-consuming, frustrating repair experience.
For a repair person who doesn't know of the fix, diagnosis would
be difficult, tedious, and potentially expensive, since both the
Mac and printer would appear to work fine independently. All of
the information above is the result of a lot of phone calls to
Apple, HP, and my dealer, as well as the kind indulgence of Kris
Stark and his CompuServe account. That sort of research should
have been unnecessary. HP should distribute their new drivers and
statements on other commercial services such as America Online and
GEnie, as well making the information known on Usenet. Even more
important, HP should definitely make more of an effort to see that
their dealers have the latest information regarding their
products.
Information from:
Kris Stark -- STARK@ITHACA.BITNET
Mark H. Anbinder -- mha@memory.uucp
Jeff, Debbie, and Janice at HP Tech Support -- 208/323-2551
Apple Technical Support -- 800/776-2333
Tonya Byard -- TidBITS editor (for the editor's notes)
Microsoft Treading Antitrust Waters?
------------------------------------
Last week the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it
will begin a non-public investigation of Microsoft for allegedly
crippling Windows 2.1 in favor of OS/2. The investigation stems
from a 1989 press release in which Microsoft and IBM discussed the
direction they would take in respect to Windows and OS/2. At the
time, the companies agreed that Windows would serve the low end of
the market and OS/2 would take the high end. Since then, quite
obviously, Microsoft has changed its mind about what Windows will
do and has put its OS/2 work on the back burner.
There are a couple of possibilities here. First, the FTC
investigators have been in another part of the galaxy for the past
year and haven't seen what Microsoft is doing with Windows. That's
possible, but unlikely. Second, IBM and Microsoft were (and
perhaps still are) in some sort of collusion designed to reduce
competition. That's a no-no in the eyes of the FTC and is quite
likely, given Microsoft's bid to control even more of the software
industry than it currently does and IBM's tainted history with
such things. Third, the investigation is broader than one might be
led to believe from the start, and Microsoft's hegemony of both
the operating system and applications worlds looks bad in terms of
fair competition. The idea here is that Microsoft applications
developers can just talk to the Microsoft OS developers over
lunch, which gives both an advantage over third party developers.
It's no insight that Microsoft has taken advantage of its position
as the developer of Windows to release the most powerful and most
popular Windows applications. Microsoft has something like five of
the top ten Windows applications, and those five are in the upper
half of the ten. If Microsoft were found guilty of unfair
competition, I doubt any of its competitors would be at all upset.
Although this third possibility is the most likely, there are
arguments on both sides. For instance, Borland negotiated with the
Windows group at Microsoft to release a version of its Turbo
languages that could create Windows applications before
Microsoft's own languages feature the same level of support. On
the other hand, developers have been complaining because Microsoft
released only a beta version of the Object Linking and Embedding
(OLE) specs in December, but had been shipping a version of
PowerPoint that used OLE for several months. Of course, like
Apple's AppleEvents in System 7.0, it will take quite some time
before programmers become familiar with OLE and start using it, so
it may not be that big of a deal.
No matter what happens, it seems that Microsoft is clearing the
legal decks (or was that docks :-)) for a large legal battle. Bob
Cringely tells me that Microsoft is trying to settle other
litigation quickly, out of court if possible, in preparation for
the potential antitrust suit. This might mean an early settlement
to the Apple suit, though if Microsoft settles out of court, Apple
will certainly extract some royalty payments for Windows. While
I'm on that subject, it looks as though I was incorrect when I
wrote that the judge might be moving the whole thing into court to
decide the issue once and for all. It now seems that he has
limited the issue to the simple contract dispute and isn't
allowing Apple to bring the larger issues into the case at all.
Information from:
Bob Cringely -- CRINGE@mcimail.com
Microsoft propaganda
Related articles:
MacWEEK -- 19-Mar-91, Vol. 5, #11, pg. 75, 77
COMMUNICATIONS WEEK -- 11-Mar-91, pg. 6
InfoWorld -- 18-Mar-91, Vol. 13, #11, pg. 1
InfoWorld -- 11-Mar-91, Vol. 13, #10, pg. 1
PC WEEK -- 18-Mar-91, Vol. 8, #11, pg. 1, 6
Multiple Master
---------------
Adobe recently announced a new font technology called Multiple
Master, which should make everyone who uses fonts happy. Current
PostScript Type 1 fonts have a single outline file that allows you
to scale a font's size. A Multiple Master font can be scaled
similarly, but it has a number of outlines that allow much more
flexibility, such as the ability to change the weight, width, and
style (the difference between serif or sans-serif). The fonts will
be no slower to image and will be completely compatible with all
PostScript printers (though not necessarily PostScript clones,
like TrueImage). The font files will be somewhat larger than
current font files, not surprisingly, but will probably take up
less space than if you had all the versions of a current font
family.
So what are these fonts going to be useful for? Lots of stuff,
probably. One use will be to prevent the ugly appearance of a file
that uses a font that you don't have installed (preventing
ugliness is an important task in today's society). A Multiple
Master font will emulate the original font's character spacing and
widths so the document will be formatted correctly again. Graphic
designers will also appreciate being able to tweak the character
weights and widths to fit a text run into a specific position. I
know I've played with the leading and kerning in PageMaker for
hours at various times, trying to get a text block to fit between
some graphic elements. On a larger scale, book designers will be
able to tweak the fonts to ensure that the book will have an exact
multiple of 16 pages, which will cut down on paper waste and
reduce book costs (well, OK, book prices probably won't go down
even if they do save money).
It will be a while before Multiple Master fonts come out. Adobe's
talking about releasing the first few of them this summer along
with new versions of ATM for the PC and Mac. Some sort of added
software will be necessary to manipulate the Multiple Master fonts
in applications - probably an INIT or desk accessory. The INIT
would almost certainly be easier to use and more integrated, but
might run afoul of non-standard font handling practices such as
those used by Microsoft Word. Other companies such as ITC,
Bitstream, Agfa Compugraphic, Monotype, and Linotype will also
manufacture Multiple Master fonts, so there should be no shortage
of them in a year or so.
It's unclear how TrueType fits in with all of this. From what I've
seen and heard recently, the TrueType INIT is a bit of a pain to
use (you can't use older LaserWriter drivers with it, which means
you'll have to reinitialize the printer each time someone prints
with a different driver) and isn't quite as fast as ATM. That very
well may change when System 7.0 comes out, since any INIT that
patches the current system won't be as fast as something built
into the system. So it looks like the low-end will have TrueType
(since everyone who uses System 7.0 will have it), whereas graphic
designers will probably stick with PostScript for serious work,
particularly when Multiple Master comes out. TrueType could
implement an optical scaling scheme like Multiple Master, but it
would take some time and would require interest on Apple's part to
compete with PostScript on the high-end. I hope that everything
get along happily when all of this is over with, if it ever will
be.
Related articles:
MacWEEK -- 19-Mar-91, Vol. 5, #11, pg. 20
MacWEEK -- 12-Mar-91, Vol. 5, #10, pg. 1
InfoWorld -- 11-Mar-91, Vol. 13, #10, pg. 5
PC WEEK -- 11-Mar-91, Vol. 8, #10, pg. 1
Reviews/25-Mar-91
-----------------
* MacWEEK
Optical Drives, pg. 35
Mass Micro DataPak MO
MicroNet CMO-1
Pinnacle Micro REO-650
Pinnacle Micro REO-130
Mobius 030 One Page Display System, pg. 38
Thunder 7, pg. 38
Evolver 1.1, pg. 38
FlexiTrace, pg. 41
* InfoWorld
GraceLAN, pg. 66
FilmMaker 2.1, pg. 76
* PC WEEK
Color PostScript Printers, pg. 77
NEC Colormate PS
OceColor Model G5241-PS
QMS ColorScript 100 Model 10
Seiko ColorPoint PS Model 4
Tektronix Phaser II PX
* BYTE
Script Languages, pg. 244
HyperCard 2.0
SuperCard 1.5
Spinnaker Plus 2.0
Spinnaker for Windows
ToolBook 1.0
HyperPad 2.0
References:
MacWEEK -- 19-Mar-91, Vol. 5, #11
InfoWorld -- 18-Mar-91, Vol. 13, #11
PC WEEK -- 18-Mar-91, Vol. 8, #11
BYTE -- Apr-91
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